Non-normal recoomendation?

[SiegeTheDay]

I bought a refurb HP p7-1007c after both my laptop and main desktop have died in the past year, to hold off until I can drop a few thousand on a box that will last a bit longer.

The specs:
Phenom II X2 521, 3.50 GHz
6GB RAM (unconfirmed what speed)
onboard radeon

I run 1900x1200 now, on a 24", and plan on getting a 30" monitor for center, with 2x 20"ish portrait monitors for side view. Unsure what resolution yet, but the new monitor(s) will be coming before the new box.

The sides will only ever do 2d basic stuff, planning on just a cheap PCIE 1x card to handle them, the question is about the main video card.


I am not a hardcore gamer. But like a few others, when I do play a game, I want it to look good and be smooth.

I mostly use a lot of command line stuff and browser windows for daily use.

Games that it should handle:

WoW
Mechwarrior
Fallout ( the newer ones)
whatever random twitch game, maybe Serious Sam
Not sure that I want to even get into Skrym
and the obligatory starcraft (2, etc) I don't even own starcraft 2 yet.


The budget is $150ish, this is going to need to last maybe 6 months until I can build a seriouser box

I run linux, and have run WoW at least with no problems with WINE

If a specific game were DX *ONLY*, i might boot up a windows disk to play, but that's a last resort.

Thanks.

 

[MachoSasquatcho]

I googled this:

http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bi...portFAQ&prodSeriesId=5080737&prodTypeId=12454

It appears that thing may be running a 250W power supply so I'm not sure what you could safely get away with running.

Possibly a 5670? I'm hesitant to recommend anything other than a PSU upgrade. See if you can find a good combo deal with a PSU/GPU on NewEgg.

 

[SiegeTheDay]

correct, looks like a 250 watt, i forgot to post in the original, I'm aware and willing to upgrade the PS too. The PS is not included in the budget number

 

[MachoSasquatcho]

Assuming you upgrade your PSU here is what you are looking at for your ~150 budget:

XFX 6790 - 139.99 - 119.99 after MIR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150534

If you are willing to bend your budget to account for Mail In Rebates then you would be looking at:

ASUS 6850 - 159.99 - 139.99 after MIR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121419

XFX 6850 - 159.99 - 129.99 after MIR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150573

These are just what I saw from glancing over Newegg. Additionally, If you are willing to buy used you can pick up a more powerful NVIDIA 560 or AMD 6870 for around $150 on the trade forums here as well.

 

[SiegeTheDay]

Thanks for the info. I used that as a starting point for more research, and just squeezed the trigger on the 6870 at NewEgg in the deals section. $145 shipped after MIR. All criteria met. A bit of a kick is that I have a new 450 watt PS in box laying around, but the card wants a 500 minimum.